Non-loosening hinges



Feb. 20, 1962 L. R. ANDERSON NON-LOOSENING HINGES Filed Sept. 30. 1957 LLOYD R. ANDERSON ATTORNEY rates 3,921,554 NGN-LGOSENING HENGES Lloyd Robert Anderson, 6804 Millwood Road, Bethesda 14, Md. Filed Sept. 30, 1957, Ser. No. 687,130 11 Claims. (Cl. 16-167} The present invention relates to building hardware and more particularly to a hinge construction of general utility such as used on doors.

Although hinges have been used for many years and with all types of door closers, door stops, and door holders, hinges heretofore used have not been entirely satisfactory because the attaching screws have come loose, particularly the attaching screws for the jamb leaf of the top hinge. The screws for the top hinge of doors repeatedly come loose due to the tension on the screws caused by the weight of the door as well as the reaction produced by the door stops, door holders, or door closers.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my application Serial Number 402,5( 2, filed January 6, 1954, now Patent 2,853,747.

In doors equipped with a door stop or door holder reacting against the top edge of the door close to the. top hinge for preventing the door from opening too far, additional strain is produced on the screws securing the jamb leaf of the top hinge to the hinge jamb of the door frame. The repeated stress and strain causes the screws to pull out resulting in sagging doors requiring much expensive maintenance to keep the door operative.

An object of the present invention is to provide a hinge structure which will overcome the problem of screws becoming loose.

A further object is to provide a hinge structure which reinforces the top edge of a door and the door frame.

Another object is to provide a hinge structure which will distribute the stress and strain sufficiently to limit the stress to sufficiently small loads on each fastening element that the fastening elements will remain secure without attention.

Another object is to provide a structure which will always have some of the fastening elements in shear stress thereby reducing the tensile stress on the fastening elements.

Still another object is to provide hinge structure which receives a large part of its support from mortised mountings in the door jamb and door.

FIGURE 1 is a horizontal sectional plan view taken substantially on line 11 of FIGURE 2 of a non-loosening hinge applied to a metal door and door frame showing the plane of the door hinge leaf at an obtuse angle to the face of the door closest to the hinge pin and with the length of the door reinforcing strap being substantially parallel to the face of the door.

FIGURE 2 is a vertical section taken on line 22 of FIGURE 1 of the hinge applied to a metal jamb and lintel and a metal door showing the bevel at the free extremities of the jamb leaf and the jamb reinforcing strap to simplify mounting of the hinge and positioning the hinge in place when mounting the hinge on the jamb and lintel.

FIGURE 3 is a section taken on line 33 of FIGURE 1 showing the re.ish portions for concealing both straps from view on both faces of the door and door frame.

Upon reference to FiGURE 1, a conventional hinge jamb 111 of a door frame supports the jamb hinge leaf 112 in the usual mortise recess in the jamb by the usual fastening screws 113. The door 114 is shown as having its heel provided with the bevel A of 4; inch per 2 inches and the door hinge leaf 115 is parallel to such bevel, the door leaf being secured to the door by means of screws 116. Screws 116 are machine screws where the door 1 14 is of metal construction, such machine screws being threaded into a tapped plate 117 in the door. The door reinforcing strap i. is received in a mortised recess 119 in the top edge of the door which is located between the inner and outer surfaces of the door, thereby providing conventional relishes 129 and 3.21 adjacent each surface of the door concealing the edges of the strap 118. Similar relishes 120A and 121A are provided in the lintel for concealing the jamb leaf strap 123. The strap 113 is secured to the top edge of the door within the mortise recess 119 by means of fastening screws 122. It will be apparent that the fastening screws 113, 116, and 122 may be machine screws threaded into the jamb and door frames when the jamb and door frames are of metal as shown in FIGURES l, 2, and 3. It will also be evident that wood screws may be used with doors and frames of wood.

It will be seen that the bevel between the plane of the heel of the door 114 and the inner surface of the hinge jamb 111 results in the angle A, the hinge leaves 112 and 115 being positioned in this angular relation when the door is closed. The length of the strap 113 of the door leaf 115 is therefore positioned at a corresponding obtuse angle B to the plane of the door leaf thereby accommodating for the bevel angle A in the door. The jamb leaf has he jamb reinforcing strap 123 corresponding to strap 19 shown in FIGURES l to 4 of Patent 2,853,747 and is secured by screws 12 3 to the lintel 125. The ends of the jamb hinge leaf 112 and the end of the lintel strap 123 are preferably beveled as shown at 126 and 127 to permit easy installation without interference with the end walls of the frame recess. The bevel or chamfer may be provided on only one of the ends 126 or 127 with the other end unbeveled.

This angular relation of the door strap and the door hinge leaf may be provided in the other modifications to provide for the bevel angle A, whenever the heel edge of the door is beveled.

Although the hinge has been described for use at the upper corner of a door it will be apparent that the hinge may be used at the lower corner or may be used for many other uses where additional strength is desired and where the screws pullout. This hinge saves much eX- pensive architectural construction which is now considered necessary to provide door stops. Present conventional hinge construction is inadequate for use with overhead door holders particularly where doors are subject to high stresses due to Winds and drafts. In some building construction architects design specially built walls to prevent doors from opening beyond approximately 90 degrees to forestall damage to the doors, hinges, door closers, etc. Such construction is extremely expensive. By using the non-loosening hinge of the present invention a relatively inexpensive overhead door stop and holder may perform the function of the expensive specially built walls or structural abutments. J

Having thusdescribed the invention it will be apparent that changes may be made within the scope and spirit of the invention in accordance with the definition of the invent'on as claimed.

What is claimed is:

l. A non-loosening hinge for doors having a bevel on the hinge edges thereof, said hinge including a jamb leaf, a reinforcing strap secured to the upper end thereof, said jamb hinge leaf and its reinforcing strap be'ng adapted to be secured to the hinge jamb and'lintel of a door frame, a door leaf pivoted to said jamb leaf, a strap secured to said door leaf at the upper edge thereof and spaced below the strap of said jamb leaf corresponding to the top clearance of a door, said door strap being arranged so the plane thereof forms a right angle to the plane of the door leaf and the edges of the strap secured to the door leaf being at an obtuse angle to the plane Of its hinge leaf whereby said hinge may be secured in flush relation to the jamb and door, said jamb and door leaves and said lintel and door straps being provided with countersunk recesses on their exposed faces for receiving fastening screws, said door strap being appreciably narrower than the thickness of the door to which it is applied whereby a relish may be provided at the edges of the door strap.

2. A non-loosening swaged hinge comprising an elongated jamb leaf and an elongated door leaf pivotally connected together on a long edge of each, a strap secured to the top end of the jamb leaf and adapted to be fixed to the lintel of a door frame, a strap fixed to the top end of the door leaf and being located so that its top surface is spaced below the bottom surface of the jamb leaf a distance corresponding to the clearance of the top of a door and the lintel, the elongated strap of the door leaf being arranged so that the edge thereof adjacent the hinge pivot of the hinge makes an obtuse angle to the door leaf whereby the hinge may be secured to a door having a beveled heel edge.

3. A non-loosening hinge for application to a. door jamb and lintel having mortised recesses opening into each other, said hinge comprising jamb and door leaves pivoted together, said jarnb leaf having a strap projecting from the inner surface at one end thereof, said strap and jamb leaf defining a dihedral angle corresponding to the dihedral angle between the mortised recesses, the extremities of said jamb leaf and said strap being beveled at an angle on their normally unexposed surfaces whereby the hinge part including said jamb leaf and jamb strap may be applied into said mortised recesses without requiring deformation of the parts.

4. A hinge comprising a jamb leaf and a door leaf pivoted together, a strap narrower than said hinge jamb leaf extending from one end of said jamb leaf and overlying the end of said door leaf, means to secure said jamb leaf and strap to a communicating mortise in the hinge jam'b and lintel of a door frame in which a relish is provided in the lintel to hide the edge of the strap, and means to secure the door leaf to the door, the free end of one of said jamb leaf and strap being beveled on its unexposed surface when mounted in the dihedral angle between the hinge jamb and lintel of a door frame.

5. The combination with a door frame having communicating rectangular mortises in the hinge jarnb and in the head jamb and a door Within the said frame, of a hinge having a jamb leaf including a rectangular hinge jamb plate and a rectangular head jamb plate disposed in end to end butting relation forming a right dihedral angle and secured together at their abutting ends, the other end of each plate being a free extremity, said jamb leaf being positioned in said communicating mortises and fastened in place by suitable fastening means, a door leaf pivotally connected to said jamb leaf and secured to said door, the head jamb plate being narrower than the head amb and having its edges within the width of the head jamb with the head jamb having a relish hiding the edges of the head jamb plate from view, the free extremity of the head jamb plate being provided with relief formed by omitting the material thereof on the unexposed surface a suflicient amount to permit unhampered applicatron of the jamb leaf into the communicating mortises in with the ends of the jamb plates snugly abutting the ends of the communicating mortises whereby the free ends of the jamb plates abut the non-communicating ends of the mortises providing support in addition to that given by said fastening means.

6. The invention according to claim 5 in which the fastening means are screws and the jamb leaf is provided with countersunk apertures receiving the screws.

7. The invention according to claim 6 in which the relief is a chamfer.

8. The combination with a door frame having communicating rectangular mortises in the hinge jamb and in the head jamb and a door within the said frame, of a hinge having a jamb leaf including a rectangular hinge jamb plate and a rectangular head jamb plate disposed in end to end abutting relation forming a dihedral angle and secured together at their abutting ends, the other end of each plate being a free extremity, said jamb leaf being positioned in said communicating mortises and fastened in place by suitable fastening means, a door leaf pivotally connected to said jamb leaf and secured to said door, the head jamb plate being narrower than the head jamb and having its edge within the width of the head jamb with the head jamb having a relish hiding the edge of the head jamb plate from view, the free extremity of one of the plates being provided with relief formed by omitting the material thereof on the unexposed surface a sufiicient amount to permit unhampered application of the jamb leaf into the communicating mortises with the ends of the jarnb plates snugly abutting the ends of the communicating mortises whereby the free ends of the jamb plates abut the non-communicating ends of the mortises providing support in addition to that given by said fastening means.

9. A dihedral angle bracket structure having a hinge jamb plate fixed at one end to one end of a head jamb plate for application to a jamb frame having communicating motrise recesses in adjacent surfaces of a dihedral angle formed of intersecting hinge jamb and head jamb frame members on which a hinge is to be mounted, the other end of each plate being free, means to secure the hinge jamb plate and the head jamb plate of the bracket structure within the corresponding mortise recesses, the other and free end of at least one of the plates being provided with a relieved surfaceon its unexposed surface to permit ease of insertion of the bracket structure into the mortise recesses.

10. The invention according to claim 9 in which a separable hinge is mounted on the angle bracket.

11. The invention according to claim 10 in which said relieved surface is provided by a bevel on the unexposed surface at the free end of the head jamb plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

